October 13, 2024 marked the annual in-person meeting in Chicago of Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC), a group of multi-sector GSI practitioners seeking to scale up GSI in the Great Lakes Region. With the support of the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the group has been affiliated with the Exchange since October 2023.
Debra Kutska from Cook County and Holly Sauter from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago kicked off the meeting at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center, speaking to the Different Faces of Green Infrastructure in Metro-Chicago. Holly spoke to the fact the MWRD is charged with stormwater management in the very large metropolitan area, where Cook County is the second largest County in the nation, and highlighted its successful Space to Grow Program, where GSI is being implemented on school properties in the City of Chicago and as a pilot in four Chicago suburbs. Deb spoke to the 2024 update to Cook County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan and the use of GIS mapping to identify areas throughout the county where green infrastructure in the form of tree plantings and green alleys might be used to reduce urban heat island impacts for vulnerable populations.
Ryan Wilson from the Metropolitan Planning Council presented the opening keynote address entitled, Right Infrastructure, Right Place: StormStore + Climate Equity-Informed Prioritization. Ryan explained that StormStore is the marketplace for buying and selling stormwater credits in Cook County. The platform connects developers who need to meet stormwater management requirements with landowners who are selling stormwater credits and prioritizes disadvantaged communities most impacted by flooding.
Janet Clements from One Water Econ reviewed the forthcoming GSI Impact Hub and GSI Impact Calculator, a suite of resources to help stormwater practitioners evaluate, measure, and integrate co-benefits information into key aspects of GSI design, implementation, and funding, financing, and incentive models. The new website will launch at the end of October 2024.
Shanyn Viars from American Rivers spoke about the Lake Michigan Funding Resiliency Dashboard, a new tool to help communities in Michigan and Wisconsin plan and fund GSI projects. Shanyn noted that there are plans to expand the project to incorporate Illinois and Ohio.
Susan Bryan from Washtenaw County, Michigan and Cooper Martin from Rainplan addressed Strategies for Incorporating GSI on Private Property. Susan outlined Washtenaw County’s Master Rain Gardener Program, which trains residents to design and plant their own rain gardens. Over 2,000 rain gardens have been built since the program’s inception in 2006. Cooper noted that an estimated 80 percent of the land that could support green infrastructure projects is private property. He explained Rainplan’s purpose as one of connecting property owners to stormwater management incentive programs, which currently cover over 125 million people in the U.S., so as to get more stormwater managed where it falls on private land.
Emily Zhang from the Healthy Schools Campaign, Danielle Russell from Openlands, and Danielle Gallet from Waterwell addressed Chicago’s Space to Grow Program, a parternship with Chicago Public Schools to install GSI in schoolyards, making them vibrant spaces to play, learn, and be outside. The schools are chosen based on their CPS equity index score and their location in areas where this a high risk for basement flooding and a dearth of parks, since the schoolyards are revitalized to serve as community parks after school hours.
Nicole Zacharda from the Great Lakes Commission highlighted the work of the Commission to recommend policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and bring the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. She spoke to an effort to Relaunch the Great Lakes Stormwater Collaborative. As part of this project, the Commission may build a new leadership team of State, provincial and local stormwater leaders and researchers, produce a webinar series, improve connections with the USACE Engineering with Nature program and other Great-Lakes-focused initiatives, sponsor a research symposium in 2026 and develop and track progress on a set of stormwater metrics for the region.
Membership in RISC is open to GSI practitioners from around the Great Lakes Region and is free of charge. For more information, please contact Nina Baldwin, Program Manager.